After some consideration, and lots of research, we decided to stay in the Premier Inn in Stratford, beside the Olympic Stadium. Premier Inns are by no means the most fancy places, and I'm sure lots of people would hate to stay there, but they are always clean and comfy, and since we don't spend a huge amount of time in the hotel, we stay in them quite often. It was a great choice to stay there. The hotel was right beside a giant Westfield shopping center (someone told me the largest in Europe!), so we had lots of choice about places to eat dinner, and places to get lunch and do a bit of shopping. It was also served by two stations - a train station and a train/underground/DLR station which made it so easy to get into central London, and to get too and from Liverpool Street for our connecting trains. We had a great view of the Olympic stadium, and out over the London skyline, and it was generally just a great pick, and I highly recommend it!
We flew in on Monday, and by the time we got settled and had dinner, Isabelle was ready for bed. On Tuesday, we decided to go and see the Cutty Sark, and then the Tower of London. Cutty Sark was disappointing, as we didn't think there was really that much about the shop or the people who had sailed on it. Simon's great-great-grandfather was its Captain, so it was especially disappointing for us that nowhere were any people mentioned. Not something we would recommend, but it was still nice to see a piece of our family history.
By contrast, the Tower of London was super! That was my pick, and we both loved seeing the various buildings, the great displays and of course the Crown Jewels. Isabelle fell asleep just as we walked up to the jewels, so she managed to miss them! It was a lot bigger inside than we had thought, so we were there for a good part of the day, and we both really enjoyed it.
Panoramic of Tower Bridge, with the Tower of London, the Gherkin, the Shard and City Hall (and Simon!)
On Wednesday, we went to the Natural History Museum, which was amazing. Simon and I generally are not fans of museums, but we both loved the NHM. My favorite section was the volcanoes, earthquakes and earth history area, and Isabelle enjoyed touching all the rocks in there. A big bonus is that the museum is free, but we left a voluntary donation as we were both really impressed with the whole thing. Definitely our sort of museum!
We then made a quick trip to Hamley's. I usually love Hamley's, but was slightly disappointed this time round. We didn't end up buying anything, although we went in with that intention, but we did come away with a balloon for Isabelle which she adored, and kept her happy while we got ready for dinner with some friends that evening, and on the train to Norfolk the next day.
Natural History Museum
We decided to leave her pram at home and just take slings with us and babywear the whole time. It was definitely the right decision, and one I would suggest to others going to somewhere like London. Getting on and off the Tube, in and out of train stations, and around attractions was so much easier with no pram. After carrying Isabelle for c6 hours each day I was definitely feeling it, but it was worth it. I took a wrap to carry her on my front, a buckles carrier for our backs, and a ring sling for the airports, and it worked really well.I was also extremely impressed with how kind people were on the Tube when I was carrying Isabelle. Generally it wasn't too busy when we travelled, but if there were no free seats, without fail somebody would get up and offer me theirs. One person even gave up his seat so Simon could sit next to us, which was so generous. You always hear how awful Londoners are, and how unfriendly, but we found them to be the exact opposite - kind, thoughtful and really sweet in talking to nod playing with Isabelle as we traveled. She managed to make friends on every journey, who kept her happy as we traveled.
There were lots of 'firsts' for Isabelle on our trip - her first train journey, first tube journey, first time in London, first time in a museum...and she seemed to enjoy them all - especially the train and tube!
Overall, a really great family get away. It's nice to know we can do a city break with Isabelle, and take her sight-seeing and still have a happy baby. We left for Norfolk on Thursday morning to see Simon's parents, and Isabelle was thoroughly exhausted after her first London adventure.
Has anyone else traveled lately with a baby? Any recommendations abut where we should go next?
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